todo.txt Skill for AI Agents

A durable and light ToDo list your agent can use across conversations.

Ask things like "add buy milk to my groceries", "what's on my list for work?", or "mark the dentist task as done" — the skill translates these into the right todo.sh commands, runs them, and shows you the updated list.

Why this exists: the todo.txt format is a plain-text, future-proof, tool-agnostic way to track tasks. This skill teaches how to drive the official CLI so you can manage that file conversationally — no public skill for it existed, so here it is.

Who is it for?

People running AI agents who want to keep their task list durable, light and portable.

Features

• 🗣️ Natural language → CLI — describe what you want; the skill picks the right command and flags.
• ➕ Full task lifecycle — add, list, filter, prioritize, edit, complete, archive, and delete tasks.
• 🏷️ Projects & contexts — understands +project and @context tags, plus key:value metadata like due:2026-06-30.
• 🔧 Self-installing — if todo.sh isn't installed, the skill runs a bundled script (scripts/install_todo_cli.sh) that sets it up on macOS or Linux.
• 📄 Durable, plain text, yours forever — your tasks live in a portable todo.txt file you fully control, readable with any text editor for as long as you need it, with no app or vendor lock-in.

Installation

Paste the one-liner for your platform:

npx skills add aguilera-ee/todo.txt-skill

Usage

Invoke it explicitly with a slash command, or just describe what you need and let your agent pick the skill:

/todo.txt-skill list all tasks
/todo.txt-skill add "buy milk +groceries @store"
/todo.txt-skill mark task 3 as done

Natural-language prompts work too:

"Add a high-priority task to call the dentist tomorrow, tagged health."

"Show me everything in the +work project."

"I finished the report — cross it off."

After any change, the skill re-lists your tasks so you always see the current state.

todo.txt format cheatsheet

| Element | Syntax | Example | |----------------|---------------------|--------------------------------------| | Priority | (A) … (Z) | (A) Call dentist | | Completion | x prefix + date | x 2026-06-10 Buy groceries | | Creation date | YYYY-MM-DD | 2026-06-01 Write report | | Project tag | +project | +health | | Context tag | @context | @phone | | Metadata | key:value | due:2026-06-30 |

Full example:

(A) Call dentist @phone +health due:2026-06-15
(B) 2026-06-01 Write report +work @computer
x 2026-06-10 2026-06-01 Buy groceries +errands @store

See the todo.txt format spec for the complete definition.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to propose changes, test the skill, and open a pull request.

Acknowledgements

• The todo.txt CLI and the todo.txt format, created by Gina Trapani and maintained by the todo.txt community.

License

MIT © Eduardo Aguilera. This skill is an independent project and is not affiliated with the todo.txt project or Anthropic.